This one is kind of out in left field for me. Guy was asking me for ideas on heating the bed of a over the road trailer. The trailer is to be used for hauling scrap metal to a recycle facility and they are conserned about build up of snow and ice under the tralier in the winter months distorting the actual weight of the scrap. He was wondering about some kind of heat tape system that could run off the trucks wiring while on the road and maybe be connected to line power while trailer is disconnected to keep it above freezing. I told him that if anyone could come up with an idea someone on this forum would be the one. A feww smart *** replies woould be fine too! Like wait for global warming to kick in, problem solved!
When our roads are sloppy we get a heck of a lot more snow/ice buildup on the frame rails and cross members than on the deck. It is not uncommon for our pulp wood stick trailers to weigh 1,500 to 2,500 lbs heavier than normal when weighing empty when the roads have a couple inches of wet snow on them. It would be tough to get enough heat to keep it off while driving. They don't pay that much for scrap here to be feasible to run a system like he is looking for.
God point, I'll pass that on. I believe this is a trucking company that is returning material trimed off during stamping to be recycled to new sheet to start over again. Seems they could weigh the trucks when being loaded and go by that and not be worried about weight whe being dropped off. But maybe both sides are worried the other is going to cheat?
Too lazy to tarp the load?
NO I was told the build up they are worried about is on the underside, loads will be tarped, however as old-iron says build up on frame will probably be more than on the dump body.
-weigh loaded truck -unload truck -weigh empty truck.
If there are scales at either the loading or unloading point then as Cutting Edge says, where's the problem..? Weigh the truck coming into the facility empty or loaded as the case may be, load/offload, weigh the truck after loading/offloading. The difference has to be what's in (or was in) the back. The only possible issue I would see is scale certification but surely that could be overcome. I see no possible way of stopping snow/ice buildup on the truck frame rails even if you could successfully find a way to stop it building up on the underside of the dump body.